Category Archives: Hits & Flops

It’s always fun doing the Hits & Flops column. This is where I pan games after a single play or, less commonly, heap mounds of praise on them. This month we will look at Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition, Legacy of Dragonholt and a Stockpile. Hope you enjoy!

Hits & Flops December 2017

Crossfire

Crossfire from Plaid Hat Games

Dusty loves social deduction games. They are his favorite genre. The typical attendees at The Gaming Annex, however, are lukewarm on the genre. To be sure, there are a few very good social deduction games: Werewords and Avalon for example. But there are some that fall flat.

The reason why I don’t care for games like Werewolf, One Night Werewolf or One Night Revolution is because I don’t know what team I am on. Typically in these games, you will get a role. Then someone could swap your role. And then you do not know what team you are on. So you could play the game thinking your are a good guy only to be surprised at the end that you are a bad guy.

Games where you have your role switched like this are problematic. Think Battlestar Galactica where you could become a cylon at the half way point. It’s rather annoying.

And there is role swapping in Crossfire. Uh-oh!

But the role swapping in Crossfire isn’t terrible. You get to see your initial role card. Then you pass it to the left. And then it gets shuffled and dealt to one of the players to your left. And then you get to see your new role. This fixes a lot. Players know what role they are. Players have some information about the other players but it’s scrambled. And the game only lasts 5 minutes.

We played it a couple of times. The game wasn’t terrible. But I’m not ready to say it’s a hit yet. There is a journeyman quality to social deduction games. And our group hasn’t made the journey yet.

Verdict: Undecided

2. Mansions of Madness 2

Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition

I’ve written about Mansions of Madness (1st edition) a few times on this blog. I was not a fan. I tried it three times and hated it each time. The game was dismissed by most of the people in our group in fact.

Our partner at Iggy Games owns the new edition of Mansions of Madness. He brought it over for us to try. And it was amazing. I rated the 1st edition a measly “3” on boardgamegeek. But I give the 2nd edition a solid “7”. Here’s why.

The 2nd edition is app driven instead of requiring a game master. This means there is no tedious set up where Jeremy (Scott) Pyne spends 30 minutes poring over which components to include or exclude.

Mansions of Madness 2nd edition contents

Because there is an app, there is much less set up time, the game is fully cooperative and there is less upkeep. All of this helps make the game a bit better. But the app also has a sound track. And this is the real charm of the game. The soundtrack, when paired with a Bluetooth device, adds ambiance to the game. Every creaking door, every foreboding exploration and every lurking monster. Players will be fully immersed in the game.

The game play is so much better than the 1st edition, I should write another blog about “games that fired other games” Not only does Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition fire its first edition forebear, it fires Betrayal at House on the Hill as well.

Verdict: Unequivocal hit!

3. Legacy of Dragonholt

Legacy of Dragonholt box

Fantasy Flight released Legacy of Dragonholt in Q4 of 2017. This is an immersion into their Runewars universe, a milieu they are fleshing out since losing their Games Workshop licenses.

Legacy of Dragonholt is an RPG/board game fusion. Players make characters. Then they read paragraphs from the book. They make decisions about what to do as a party based upon their characters’ quirks and the game’s narrative. The game encourages players to make character decisions more so than optimal game decisions. This will appeal to some players.

But not to me.

Legacy of Dragonholt contents

I prefer my games to have hard-and-fast objectives. I don’t find games like this or Tales of the Arabian Nights particularly good. I do enjoy Tales of the Arabian Nights because it is a game filled with so many laughs. But Legacy of Dragonholt is not filled with laughs. It’s a slog.

To be sure, this game is perfect for the right players. To the right group who wants to explore and create, Legacy of Dragonholt will be a great fit. To a player who wants a story experience more than a game experience, Legacy will find a place on the shelf. And FFG will undoubtedly support it with expansions.

But for me, the game was a flop. A rather loud one at that.

Verdict: Flop

5. Stockpile

Stockpile from Nauvoo Games

Making a good stock market game is tough. How do you capture the idea of wheelin’ and dealin’ on a stock exchange, make it simple enough to learn while also making it fun to play? That’s a tall order.

But that is exactly what Seth Van Orden and Brett Sobol have done. They have made what will probably end up being my favorite stock game.

Stockpile contents

Players will get a handful of cards. They can look at them. Then they place them either face up or face down in the auction offering areas.

The “wheelin and dealin'” part of Stockpile has been replaced with a rigid auction mechanic like in Vegas Showdown. This works nicely in Stockpile.

Players will bid on an auction offering. Because some cards are face down, you will not know what cards your opponent put there. Most cards are good: additional stocks, the ability to move stock prices up or down, etc. But some cards are “broker fees” where you must pay $1 to $3. Since the object is to have the most money, these cards should be avoided.

Players also are given an incomplete forecast of the stocks. Each player will secretly know how one stock will perform. Plus another stock’s information is public to all players. And some stocks are hidden from players until the end of the round. This makes for speculation–just like in the real stock exchange.

Stockpile isn’t just a good stock market game; it’s a good strategy game and a good family game. Stockpile should find its way into most player’s collection. If you haven’t tried it, you should. And if you have tried it, you will likely buy it.

Verdict: it’s a hit!

Where the hits never stop: check out our new Facebook presence

I’ve been able to get several new games under my belt since our last installment of Hits & Flops. Dusty has been buying lots of games in 2017. In addition, Brian has been introducing us to lots of games. And of course I buy games like they are going out of style. Let’s have some fun with another installment of Hits & Flops.

Board Game Hits & Flops October 2017

Quartermaster General 1914

Quartermaster General 1914

About a year ago, Bruce brought over a nifty little World War II game called Quartermaster General. Each player takes on one of the belligerents: three play the Axis and three play the Allies. On your turn, you play a card such as “Build Army” or “Sea Battle”. Once you play the card, it goes in your discard pile, never to return to play. You score points by owning victory cities at the end of each of your turns. Which every team has the most points at the end of the game is winner.

Quartermaster General 1914 in action

There are some cards that mill cards off your opponent’s deck. These cards are called Economic Warfare cards. It’s quite possible for someone to run out of cards before the end of the game. Some card are “Status Cards” and they stay in play, giving you a permanent bonus. And some cards are “Event Cards” that have a powerful one time effect.

Bruce’s WWII game went over quite well. Its simplicity was charming. The team interaction was fun. And all our games of it were intense. So when I saw they were releasing WWI version I was understandably intrigued.

Rules reference QMG 1914

The new version, called Quartermaster General 1914, is largely the same as the aforementioned WWII game. The major differences are: theme (this one is WWI) and complexity. This new version cranks up the complexity by a fair margin. I thought our group might like this expert take on a game we love. I took a chance and bought it.

1914 is very asymmetrical. All of the QMG games are asymmetrical. But 1914 is particularly so. There are 5 powers in the game. The Central Powers have 2 players whereas the Triple Entente has 3 players. So the Triple Entente have to use their superior numbers to hammer Germany and Austria-Hungary into submission.

The British get a toehold on the continent

Some of the powers have more than one country at their command. Austria-Hungary command Austria-Hungary and the Ottomans. The British control the US. And France controls Italy. So your deck of cards may have some cards that refer to one power but not the other.

This version also allows players to prepare a card in addition to playing a card. Prepared cards use icons on them instead of the text. This gives all cards multi uses–one of my favorite game mechanics.

With all the extra complexity, I waited until a Tuesday to spring it on our regulars. The game went over very well. I loved it. It could become my favorite game in the growing QMG series (there is also a Peloponnesian War game).

Verdict: Hit!

Immortals

Immortals from Queen Games

Wallenstein is a great game. It’s a Euro-war game with a cube tower instead of dice. Your armies are wooden cubes. When you fight, you drop your cubes and your opponent’s cubes into the cube tower. Some cubes will fall out and others will not. Your cubes that fall out are compared to your opponent’s that fall out. The difference are placed in the territory.

The novel combat system of Wallenstein has been adopted by other games. The combat system in End of the Triumvirate is similar. And the deduction mechanic of Mord im Arosa is not dissimilar. So when designers Mike Elliot and Dirk Henn announced a fantasy version, the gaming world took note.

Components of The Immortals

Dusty was one of the gamers who took note. He taught Nick Sima and myself how to play a couple of Sundays ago.

And it went over like a lead balloon.

Unlike the added complexity Quartermaster General 1914 affords over its predecessors, the added complexity in The Immortals is unneeded and unwanted.

There are now two resources instead of just money. There is a divided game board: one for evil races and one for good races. And everyone controls exactly one of each. You can move between the two planes of existence if you build a portal.

Board for The Immortals

The game board is busy. And the graphic design is less than ideal. The theme also does not shine through as much as it does in Wallenstein.

The Immortals isn’t a terrible game. It’s just an unneeded game. Wallenstein (or its Japanese themed counterpart, Shogun) are good enough.

Verdict: Flop.

Apocrypha

Apocrypha Adventure Game

Apocrypha Adventure Card Game was made for people who like Pathfinder the Card Game. It’s a campaign style coop where players build a deck with certain advantages and disadvantages in an effort to defeat an AI.

Pathfinder was not my cup of tea. The idea of a campaign or legacy card game is interesting enough. But the mechanics in Pathfinder are not interesting. They are a convoluted version of Battle of Greyport–a game that is quite fun once in a while but not enough to play an entire campaign.

Dice and standees for Apocrypha

Our first play of Apocrypha was marred by our utter ignorance of the rules. The publisher has a how-to video. We thought we could slog our way through the game. We were wrong. After almost 2 hours, we decided to abandon our game.

Even if I knew the rules well and could play a complete game, Apocrypha just isn’t my type of game. The trick to Apocrypha isn’t trying to play your whole hand of cards. It’s trying to use your one time use cards to maximum ability. So if you were thinking this was Dominion, you would be disappointed. But if you like Mage Knight, you might like this.

Verdict: Flop.

Magic Maze

Magic Maze from Gyom

Dusty introduce Jon and myself to Magic Maze a few weeks ago. Jon, who’s a theme junkie, was warned by Dusty this game would probably not be his cup of tea.

In Magic Maze, players do not control one of the adventurers. Instead, they control a certain movement direction. So anyone can move the barbarian but only one person can move him north. Players work together to move the elf, dwarf, wizard and barbarian through a shopping mall to get all the adventuring equipment they need. The game has an hourglass so players have only so long to do so.

Play through of Magic Maze

Despite its weak theme, Jon liked the game. And so do I. Magic Maze could become my favorite filler. This little rascal plays in 15 minutes and offers 17 increasingly difficult scenarios.

We introduced this game to our Thursday night group as well. And it was roundly appreciated. Magic Maze is so good, it’s difficult to imagine a game collection without it. It’s good for hardcore gamers. It’s good for non-gamers. It’s fun with kids. Designer Kasper Lapp really struck gold with this one.

Verdict: HIT!

Century Road Spice

Century: Golem Edition

Steve and his wife had us over for games a few weeks ago. They taught us Century: Golem Edition. This is a reimplementation of Century: Spice Road. It’s not yet available for retail. Steve was able to get a copy at GenCon.

Players are competing to build golems in this fantasy card game. You first must acquire all the gems needed to build a golem. This is done by playing cards from your hand that either give you gems or that let you exchange gems for different gems.

Gems and cards from Century Golem

Players have a hand of cards. They can either play a card from their hand, refresh their hand of cards, draft a card from the board or spend gems to buy a golem. You win the game by scoring points, mostly from building golems.

My wife adored the game. She said the game was very relaxing. Probably because we just played Magic Maze, a frenzied timed game. But she is right that Century is a good game. It is light enough to teach non-gamers. It could also be a good cool down game for hardcore gamers.

Verdict: HIT!

Stop Thief!

Stop Thief! from Restoration Games

I’ve found a copy of the classic Parker Brother’s game, Stop Thief! recently. It was the second such copy that I’ve found at thrift stores in 2017. This is a nifty old game where you have an electronic device that makes sounds, giving you clues where the thief is at.

Rob Daviau has launched a company who’s goal is to make modern versions of these old games. This is one of the first games he’s restored. The electronic device is now your smartphone’s app. The artwork is updated. But the feel of the game is the same.

Game board and pawns in Stop Thief!

Because of the smartphone app, the sound quality is way better than it was in the 1979 version. When the thief moves to a door, you hear a creaky old door open. When the thief moves outside, you hear the hustle and bustle of a busy street.

The roll-and-move has been replaced with a hand of cards. This is a huge improvement. One of the cards gives you a private tip but it usually moves you only a few spaces. When you play a card, you do not get it back until you play your refresh hand card.

The dragnet tightens

Despite its obvious improvements, Stop Thief! hasn’t been a hit. We’ve been playing it on “difficult” or “intermediate” settings. The difficult setting makes the private tip feature all but useless. And the intermediate game makes the private tip weak. We also played with the no cash option. This was objectively bad. In fact, the only good way to play Stop Thief! is to play the easy game, the way the game was originally design. It’s a simple deduction game with some press-your-luck. It doesn’t need dozens of add-ons.

Verdict: Undetermined.

Where every game night is a hit

Muskegon Area Gamers

Muskegon, MI 196Muskegon Area Gamers

This group is for anyone interested in playing board games, card games or any table top game. This group learns and teachs new games all the time. We welcome fresh players. We…

It’s time for everyone’s favorite column: Hits & Flops. For those new to this website, about once a month I do a drive by of the games we’ve played at The Gaming Annex. With a single play under my belt, I make sweeping judgments about said games. This month we will look at a few new releases that we got to the table like Gloom of Kilforth and Sidereal Confluence. Let’s dig in!

Hits & Flops July Edition

1. Unfair

Unfair from CMON

The reviews on Kickstarter for Unfair were overwhelmingly positive. So much so that Cool Minis or Not picked up the rights to it and published it.

In a game of Unfair, players are competing with each other to make the best amusement park. Players draft attraction cards, hire crew and get paid. Players attempt to fulfill the requirements on blueprint cards in order to get additional points. Random events are pulled each round which may benefit or harm players. The game ends after a prescribed amount of rounds. Whoever has the most points is the winner.

The Groundskeeper and Security Guard

The game has a very strong “take that” element. This might have been obvious given the name. The take that element was added because this would be a four player solitaire game otherwise. Maybe not solitaire, but there would be minimal interaction. The take that element is actually too strong. You can wipeout an opponent’s progress in the game with a single card. Think 7 Wonders. Imagine if there was a card that let you remove several of his cards. That’s how powerful the take that element in Unfair is.

You can play with little or now take that. The game has options that allow this. But then you are only playing 7 Wonders for 90 minutes. Unfair would then be a tableau builder with some weak drafting mechanics.

Unfair did not hit the mark with me. I have to give it a FLOP rating.

2. Sidereal Confluence

Sidereal Confluence from Wizkids

Sidereal Confluence is a no-holds-barred trading game…in space. It takes the best part of Advanced Civilization, the trading phase, and turns that into a game unto itself. Players must trade wisely to end up with the most points at the end of the game.

Players are dealt a faction at the beginning of the game. Each faction has unique strengths. Players start with some resources. Resources are wooden bits of various colors. Players also have some a starting assortment of converters. Converters are cards that allow you to turn your resources into more and different resources. Once set up, players can begin play.

Components of Sidereal Confluence

There are several phases in each game round. But the most important is the trade phase. Here players will trade their resources for other resources so they have the right ingredients to run their converters. You can also trade planets. Planets are simply converters that do not bear the name “converter”.

Once the trade phase is concluded, players run their converters. They turn their colored cubes into more and/or different colored cubes. This builds their engine which in turn will allow them to run more converters on the next game round.

Trade for colored cubes. Then turn these cubes into more/different cubes. I’m getting bored just blogging about this. Sidereal Confluence was a surprising flop. Our group loves Advanced Civilization. And Sidereal Confluence is not in the same vein. It’s a 3 hour catastrophe. The designer somehow made a boring trade game. A typical trade phase might go something like this, “I have green. Does anyone need a green cube? I could use a red cube”.

It’s a shame too. Because the designer tried to make Advanced Civ in space but the game lasted way too long. So he paired it down to just a trading game. And a debacle at that.

Verdict: Unbelievable flop

Werewords

Werewords from Bezier Games

I’m not a fan of the Werewolf games. I don’t like Werewolf, One Night Werewolf, Ultimate Werewolf or One Night Ultimate Werewolf.

And I don’t like Ted Alspach, the designer either. I had a big disappointment with his game Perpetual Motion Machine which I felt defrauded by. So when Dusty brough out Werewords you can guess that my expectations were pretty low.

The roles in Werewords

Werewords is like One Night Ultimate Werewolf meets 20 questions. Roles are dealt out like they are in Werewolf. One player is the werewolf and another is the seer. The rest are villagers. These roles are all secret. One player is the mayor who is both the mayor and one of the previously mentioned secret roles

The game requires an app. All players close their eyes. Then the mayor launches the app and picks a secret word from the few that app offers. Then seer opens his eyes and sees the secret word. And finally the werewolf does the same. Then the game begins.

The mayor’s tokens

Over the next four minutes the mayor says nothing. He only doles out “Yes”, “No” or “Maybe” tokens to the players. The players ask yes or no questions in order to figure out the secret word. If they figure it out, the werewolf will get to guess who the seer is; if he is correct, the werewolf is the winner. If not, the villagers are the winner. If the players do not solve it, the villagers will get to try to figure out who the werewolf is.

The game is very much like One Night Werewolf. But it’s got none of the zany role switching. It’s all about finding a McGuffin but also trying to root out who the seer or werewolf is.

And it’s great.

It’s a fantastic game. It’s almost as good as Avalon. It’s about as perfect as a social deduction game there is. It plays quickly, it’s easy to learn and it’s not samey after several plays. Ted Alspach has fully redeemed himself in my eyes.

Verdict: it’s wonderful! A HIT!

Gloom of Kilforth

Gloom of Kilforth from Hall or Nothing Productions

Gloom of Kilforth has the most beautiful components to any game. That’s no exaggeration. Each card is a unique panting. And the paintings are gorgeous. The game took years to produce because of the artwork.

Samples of Gloom of Kilforth’s art

Gloom is a co-op in a fantasy world. Each player has a character they use to further the group’s goal, usually defeating a boss monster. Players use their resources and actions to move about the board. Monsters must be killed, new alliances are bonded and items are unearthed.

Gloom of Kilforth treads where many other games have already gone. It’s only redeeming quality is its artwork. And that quality wears thin after 6 hours, the amount of time of our debut game. Gloom was an amazingly bad experience. It was our first epic game of CabinCon IV and it was a dubious.

All of us thought the game was beautiful in components, pedestrian in mechanics and bloated in game length. I’m forced to give it a devastating a FLOP verdict.

Our new and improved location…where even flops are hilariously fun

Muskegon Area Gamers

Muskegon, MI 186Muskegon Area Gamers

This group is for anyone interested in playing board games, card games or any table top game. This group learns and teachs new games all the time. We welcome fresh players. We…

It’s time for everyone’s favorite column: Hits & Flops! This is where I pass sweeping judgments on board games after a single play. Of particular note in this post is the fact that several of these games were brought to me by other members of the Muskegon Area Gamers. Indeed, all of these are games that I was taught instead of having to read the rules myself. This is rather new to me. And I really appreciate the others who did the heavy lifting! Now let’s see if I liked the games or not.

Board Game Hits & Flops April 2017

Burgle Brothers

Tim Fowers’ Burgle Brothers

After watching Tom Vasel give a strong recommendation for it, I added Burgle Brothers to my want list. The game was self-published and was going for $200 on eBay. If I wanted to drop that kind of money on a game, I’d pick up one of my grails . When the game came available at Out of the Box for MSRP, I picked it up.

Accessory floors for Burgle Brothers

In a game of Burgle Brothers, players work cooperatively to crack all the safes in a high security building. There is one safe on each floor of the game board and there are three floors total. After cracking each safe, the players must exit the building to win.

There’s only two things preventing the players from accomplishing this: several rooms have alarms or locks–and each floor has a security guard.

Players enter the building on floor one. They must find the safe, crack it and then find the stairs to floor two before the guard finds them. If a guard enters the room you are in, you must cough up a “hide” token (think of these as hit points). If you cannot discard a hide token, then the guard has found you and you (and everyone else) has lost.

The rooms and guard of Burgle Brothers

Each room has different characteristics. Some have alarms. And there are several different alarms. Some alarms are motion detectors: if you move through the room by spending only 1 action point, you trigger it. Some alarms are thermo-alarms: if you end your turn in it, you trigger it. If you trigger an alarm, the guard moves 1 space faster and he moves towards the alarm instead of making his normal rounds.

Tools and loot cards for Burgle Brothers

Once you find the safe room, you must crack the combination. Once cracked, you draw some loot cards. The loot cards can sometimes be beneficial or detrimental. You can’t drop the detrimental loot because the goal is to loot the treasure and escape! You may also pick up some tools along the way. These are usually use-it-once-and-done. A stethoscope will help you crack the safe and the blueprints will give you information about the rooms.

Burgle Brothers is a good game. It’s a good for a lark. Or it’s good as a gateway game. The coop nature makes it a good game for couples as well. Each player gets a different character to play: the rook, the raven, the rigger, etc. And each character has a basic and an advanced ability so there is lots of replayability. Burgle Brothers is the type of game that will hit the table about three times a year and everyone will enjoy it.

Verdict: HIT!

Terraforming Mars

Terraforming Mars from Stronghold Games

Brian has been coming to The Gaming Annex for about a year now. Every Thursday it seems he has new games in tote. Recently he brought over Terraforming Mars.

I was aware of Terraforming Mars from the “hotness” on BGG. The game did NOT look interesting to me. It looked like a heavy Euro with a pasted on theme. After our monthly SeaFall game, we decided to try Brian’s copy of Terraforming Mars.

Player board for Terraforming Mars

In Terraforming Mars, players take on the role of corporations that are seeking to terraform Mars. Players score points for increasing the temperature of Mars, developing water sources on mars or by creating forests. Each player is given a player board as seen here. Players track six different resources. My first thoughts when I saw this was, “Uh-oh! This looks like a heavy Euro! I’m going to hate this!”

Some patents in Terraforming Mars

Players have a hand of cards. These cards are called, “patents”. It was the card designs on BGG that really intimidated me about this game. They are super-busy with tons of information on them. I thought I would get a headache trying to managed six resources and then manage all the cards. But it turned out the iconography on the cards was far more intuitive once the rules explanation was complete. And the card title was thematic to what the card effect was which made the card (or “patent”) management much easier.

At the beginning of each round players draw patents into their hand. They may purchase the rights to these patents, discarding the ones they do not want. Each patent is unique and there are tons of them. You will use these cards to steer you strategy in the coming game rounds.

Page 14 of the rules

Each game round you will produce resources based upon your player board. You can spend these resources to further your score. You spend money to play the patent cards. The heat is spent to increase the temperature of Mars. Plants are spent to make forests. Energy is used to create heat. And the other two resources are discounts to playing patents that have those icons: either steel or titanium.

Terraforming Mars has a interesting turn structure: you can either take 1 action, 2 actions or pass. If you pass, you can take more actions next time your turn comes up unless all players pass in sequence. This confused me at first: why wouldn’t you take two actions every time? But this sequence actually works well for this game.

After playing Terraforming Mars, I was really surprised at how much I liked it. The different resources were easy to manage because the components were helpful not hindering. The iconography and text on the cards was easy enough to understand but allows for lots or replayability and depth.

Verdict: HIT!

New Angeles

NBN and Weyland Corps

New Angeles is a semi-cooperative game of negotiation and backstabbing set in FFG’s Android universe. I’ve played two other games set in this universe: Android and Netrunner; I disliked both. But New Angeles seems like it would break this trend.

Players are given control of a futuristic corporation. Each corporation gets money (victory points) in a different way. Players are given a secret objective at the beginning of the game. This tells players what they must do to win. All but one of the objectives say, “you must have a higher score than the Corporation ‘X'”; if you control “Corporation X” then you must have a higher score than three other players.

The other secret objective is the federalist. This player needs to get 25 points AND have New Angeles’ threat reach 25.

The nature of the objectives is quite interesting. Several people can win but at least one person must lose. If the federalist wins, he wins alone. As such, all players except the federalist are working to save New Angeles from a rising threat. And everything seems to make threat rise.

The active player draws cards from the decks per his corporation sheet. Those familiar with Battlestar Galactica will recognize this mechanic. Then the active player must play one as “an offer”. Other players may make a second offer, playing cards out of their hands. Then players may spend cards out of their hand to “vote” for one of the two offers. Whoever wins the offer gets a powerful asset card to be used throughout the game. And the winner gets to do what the offer says. Most of the skill cards will allow players to mitigate threat by moving tokens or pieces. A few of the skill cards are just flat out money grabs where one or two players get victory points.

Players may negotiate with each other. The trading can be votes, promises or outright gifting of victory points. Players may NOT trade skill cards nor may they make mention of their secret objective. The last part about not being able to mention your secret objective has thrown some for a loop. It doesn’t bother me. I can infer from others what their intentions are without them explicitly saying their objectives.

Game board with chrome minis

I typically like strategy games that have negotiation in them. Think Diplomacy or Twilight Imperium. But there are also negotiation games that I don’t like such as Republic of Rome. And New Angeles, unfortunately, falls in the latter category. New Angeles works as a game. But it’s not the type of game that I like. It’s an experience more than it is a strategy game. And since it is not a simulation like Junta or Battlestar Galactica, I must reluctantly call it a flop.

Verdict: FLOP!

Camel Up: Supercup

Camel Up is a light family game of hedging your bets. It was critically acclaimed, winning Spiel des Jahres in 2014. The game is mildly fun for a lark and it is definitely family friendly.

Dusty broke out the expansion, Supercup, a couple of Thursdays ago. This was our group’s first play of the expansion. Everyone had played the base game already so we were interested in what the expansion offered.

Add-on board and extra dice

Supercup comes with four modules which can be added a la carte to the base game. Seen here is the extended track and support dice. The track can be longer, seemingly making the game last longer needlessly. But the support dice fix this. Normally you will roll camel’s dice once. But the support dice let you roll more times. This is an additional action afforded to players. Due to the sudden death nature of the round, it’s possible you could throw the extra blue die into the pyramid but the round will end. This module is almost a “must” if you want to raise Camel Up to a stronger strategy game.

Photographer from Super Cup

The next module is the photographer. The photographer can be placed on a space on the board. If one or more camels land there, the player who played the photographer gets some money. This is the worst add-on for Supercup. I would not recommend using it because it adds little in the way of player choice or agency.

The next two modules modify the way in which bets are taken. Players may bet on position instead of just 1st place. And players may take a “partnership” with another player, essentially getting the same benefit as them. Both of these modules add depth to the game without adding much complexity.

I was very impressed by Camel Up: Supercup. I didn’t think an expansion would do much for a light family game. But they managed to make a light family game in a slightly meatier family game. They added depth without adding much complexity. And for that, I will call this a “HIT”!

Where Hits & Flops occur with some regularity

You know what we haven’t done in a long while? An installment of “hits & flops”. We have played many new games at The Gaming Annex in the past couple of months. There have been several letdowns. But there have also been a few surprises. Let’s take a look.

Recent Board Game Hits & Flops

1. Crimson Creek

Crimson Creek from Toystorian Enterprises

Crimson Creek is quite bad. The game is supposed to evoke the dread and horror of an 80’s slasher film. Instead, it evokes the dread and horror of a poorly designed and implemented game.

Players take on the role of a classic horror trope such as geek or jock. Then players must determine which location is the AI’s hideout. Players move about a chintzy game board. Taking certain actions causes cards to be drawn from a deck. If enough axes are drawn, a random location is drawn and all players there are eliminated. Otherwise, players must trudge onward. If you figure it out which location is the AI’s hideout, you will survive until the 2nd phase of the game–otherwise you are eliminated and can instead play a better game like Camp Grizzly.

The deduction aspect of Crimson Creek is not really all that deductive. It’s like calling Battleship a game of deduction. You have to eliminate everything in order to get the solution.

The artwork was pretty good. It did help sell the the theme a bit. But there was no real sense of suspense or doom. You have to get lucky to win the game or you have to work together with the other players. But if you work together with the other players, there is no more decision making–the strategy is completely rote.

Verdict: FLOP!

Red Dragon Inn: Battle For Greyport

Red Dragon Inn: Battle for Greyport

Red Dragon Inn: Battle for Greyport is surprisingly good. I’m not a huge fan of cooperative games. But Battle for Greyport would be a rare exception, all the more surprising given that I’ve never played any of the Red Dragon Inn games.

Each player has a unique, specialized deck. Players work together, using their respective decks, to apply damage to bad guys. Each player takes a turn where they hire retainers, adding them to their deck. But when it’s another player’s turn, you are still engaged. The monsters attack every game round. So it’s advisable to play some of your cards to help crush the rampaging monsters.

Battle for Greyport is not a deep game from what I gather. But it does fill several areas in a player’s game collection. It’s Dungeons & Dragons friendly. If you have a few friends who play D&D, you could easily get them to play Battle for Greyport. Battle for Greyport introduces people to deckbuilding. And Battle for Greyport introduces people to coops. If any of these things apply to you, this game is a good fit.

Verdict: Hit!

Food Chain Magnate

Food Chain Magnate from Splotter Spellen

Food Chain Magnate has taken boardgamegeek.com by storm. It’s now rated at #30 overall with a 8.2 rating. It’s artwork is highly stylized from the 1940’s and 1950’s ad campaigns. The components are mostly wooden, with bits for your cola, hamburgers and pizzas.

Food Chain Magnate is a heavy Euro. It’s rated 4.2 in weight at bgg. The game has lots of moving parts, tons of cards to choose from and lots of decisions to make. But it is a Euro. Thus it is low luck. In fact, the only randomness in the game determining the start player. After that, there is no randomness.

Food Chain Magnate is a procedural. This adds to the game’s length and heaviness. It’s what allows for the game’s lack of randomness. It’s also adds to the game’s learning curve.

I’ve had the chance to play it just once. And once is not enough to determine if it is a hit or a flop–especially given that Dusty blew us out of the water in that one play.

Verdict: Undetermined.

Sanssouci

Sanssouci from Ravensburger

Sanssouci is your standard issue Euro. It’s a game with nice artwork, decent components and a tacked-on theme. It’s a drafting game that rewards efficiency.

All of these things make it a bad fit for my collection. Too many other games do these things already. Further, Sanssouci over stays its welcome, weighing in at 45 to 60 minutes.

Verdict: Flop

Eminent Domain: Escalation

Eminent Domain: Escalation

You may recall a recent blog post where I lamented getting rid of some games which I later decided to obtain again. One of those games was Tasty Minstrel Games’ Eminent Domain. I picked up the expansion: Escalation. I had the chance to give it a play with Jeremy (Scott) Pyne.

The game play for Eminent Domain sans the expansion is decent. It’s a cross between Dominion and Glory to Rome but with a new theme. It’s the deckbuilding of Dominion but the role following or dissenting of Glory to Rome. In space.

The expansion adds scenario cards. This allows players to have unique (asymmetrical) starting decks and technologies. There is also unique abilities for all the plastic ships in the game. These changes make the game fresh.

If you’ve played Eminent Domain and either liked it or were on the fence, you owe it to yourself to try Escalation. It also will set the stage for the newest expansion: Exotica!

Verdict: Hit!

Mechs Vs. Minions

Mechs vs. Minions from Riot Games

Mechs vs. Minions has set the standard for successful kickstarters. Maybe not so much in total amount funded (which was impressive) but in actual value to the consumer. You get magnificently painted 50mm figurines–tons of them. You get heirloom quality components like an hour glass and modular game board. The game has storage space for all of these pieces: individual vacuum formed spaces for each figure. And the price was less than $100.

The game play is also excellent. It’s like Robo Rally but better. And that’s saying something! Players use programmed movement on their mechs, moving and shooting the minions while trying to complete the mission.

The rules are easy enough to learn but there is a lot scenarios that add depth to the game. Mechs vs. Minions is a must buy if you love miniature war games or if you like cooperative games.

Verdict: Hit!

Betrayal at House on the Hill: Widow’s Walk

Betrayal at House on the Hill: Widow’s Walk

I was so looking forward to the expansion to Betrayal at House on the Hill. Betrayal is a perennial classic at The Gaming Annex. It’s a goofy team game where players search a haunted house.

The expansion, Widow’s Walk, was an unexpected announcement from Hasbro, being released just before Halloween of 2016. I had the chance to play it during our Halloween Week at The Annex.

And it fell flat for me.

The expansion is just extra rooms and extra haunts. If this is what you are looking for, then the $20 is well spent. I was hoping for more. I was hoping for extra game mechanics. Something that would add depth to the game instead of adding more of the same.

Oh well.

Verdict: flop!

King & Assassins

King & Assassins from Galakta

King & Assassins is a delightfully devilish two player game. One player is the king and his knightly escorts. The other is the townspeople who have three secret assassins in their midst. The king must move from one area of the board to the castle before the assassins kill him or before time runs out.

A card is flipped over. The king and the knights get so many action points based on what the card says. The king can move, the knights can move or push townsfolk. The knights can arrest people or even kill a revealed assassin. The assassin player then takes his turn. He moves the townspeople. He can reveal one of them to be an assassin. The assassins can kill knights or wound the king.

Kings & Assassins plays in 30 minutes. You can learn the game in about 10 minutes. If you need a two player game, this one will probably fit the bill.

Verdict: Hit!

Dice City

Dice City from AEG

When Steve brought Dice City over to The Gaming Annex a couple of months ago, I was eager to give it a go. I loved the cartoonish artwork and I love dice games.

Dice City is a very good game for anyone who likes Imperial Settlers. It’s a tableau building game of rolling dice to get resources. Resources are used to buy additional cards which will give you victory points or even more resources.

Unfortunately, I didn’t like Imperial Settlers. Both Imperial Settlers and Dice City overstay their welcome. They are fun for the first 20 minutes but then drag on for 30 more minutes. There isn’t enough meat on the bone to make Dice City fun for almost an hour. As such, I cannot justify adding it to the ol’ library

Verdict: Flop!

Star Wars: Destiny

Star Wars Destiny from Fantasy Flight Games

I don’t have a love/hate relationship with Star Wars collectible games; I have a hate/hate relationship. I played Star Wars CCG from Decipher. (I will devote a blog post to this in the coming weeks). When I heard Fantasy Flight was releasing a Star Wars collectible dice/card game, I grimaced like Professor Mike when he hears us make crude jokes.

Dusty got a few copies of Star Wars Destiny recently. He taught me how to play.

And I was pleasantly surprised.

Very surprised indeed. Star Wars Destiny is everything I like in a dice game. It’s fast paced (about 20 minutes long). It’s a tactical game and a strategic game. There’s plenty of decisions to make but there isn’t any analysis paralysis.

Players take one action on their turn: either rolling dice, using dice or playing cards from their hands. Then their opponent takes a turn. This continues until all actions are spent and both players pass. Then a new round begins. When one player has run out of cards or has both of their characters killed, the game ends.

Star Wars Destiny is set in the Star Wars universe but doesn’t feel all that Star Wars like. But players will forgive this slight because the game play is quick and fun.

Verdict: a very surprising HIT!

Where these verdicts are handed down like social policy

Muskegon Area Gamers

Muskegon, MI 161Muskegon Area Gamers

This group is for anyone interested in playing board games, card games or any table top game. This group learns and teachs new games all the time. We welcome fresh players. We…

It’s that time. Another installment of Hits & Flops. We take a look and take aim at the latest games to hit the tables at The Gaming Annex. With even a single play, we either accept or reject games on Board Game Geek’s hotness. This month we will be looking at Scythe, Star Trek Ascendancy, Vast: the Crystal Caverns along with a few other games. Sit back and have a read. Don’t take this too seriously.

1. Scythe

Scythe from Stonemaier Games

If you had asked me earlier this week about Scythe, I would have told you how good it was. It has lots of opportunities for attacking your opponents while also trying to be as efficient as possible.

Scythe player mat

All actions are controlled by the player mats. There is a top half and a bottom half. The bottom actions require numerous resources so players will only occasionally perform them. But players will always perform the top actions. When choosing an action, players may do either or both actions.

Actions include: collecting resources, collect different resources, move units or collect yet another set of different resources. The bottom actions are: build a building, build a mech, improve the cost/benefit of these actions when you or your opponents take this action or improve the cost/benefit of these actions in a different way. Sounds Euro? Yep.

But if you had asked me earlier this week, I would have said this is a good game. Then we played last night. It was my third game. And it played very samey. I’ve now realized this is only a mediocre game. While Scythe currently holds the #13 position on BGG and has a rabid following, watch for its precipitous fall in coming years. There is no emergent game play in Scythe. It is a pure efficency/static game state game. Think Caylus with plastic mechs.

Verdict: Flop!

2. Vast: the Crystal Caverns

Vast: the Crystal Caverns from Leder Games

Vast: the Crystal Caverns is a wonderful, completely asymmetrical game. The game is so asymmetrical, that you have to play it five times to see all the different ways to play it.

One player takes on the role of the daring knight. She must defeat the dragon to win. One player is the goblin chieftain who must vanquish the fair knight. One player is the dragon who must wake from its slumber and escape the cavern. The thief tries to gather crystals and treasures. And the last player is the cave itself who must cause the cave to collapse before anyone else can win.

The Knight from Vast: the Crystal Caverns

How the knight moves, levels up and performs actions is completely different than the goblins–which is completely different than the dragon. It’s like five mini-games merged under one undeniably charming theme that really works well.

The knight has action cubes that can be assigned to do different tasks. These tasks include buffing her strength, using the ancient map, moving, girding the shield or attacking the goblins. The goblins must increase their strength to damage the knight, acquire secret cards to lay traps for the knight or the dragon or acquire powerful monsters to aid in their quest to kill the knight.

The dragon has a hand of cards. And the dragon can level up to increase its hand size. These cards are spent to do different actions like firewall, feeding on the goblins or ultimately waking up completely from its slumber so as to leave the cavern. The cavern is the game clock. New tiles are laid and new event cards are drawn. The cave player decides which treasures to give the knight–to either slow down the goblins or the dragon player. But the cave can also spin walls around, confounding the knight, giving the cave enough time to begin the collapse.

Every player has a way to interact with each other. And the asymmetry is a work of pure brilliance. This game is my favorite new game of 2016. As such, the verdict is obvious.

Verdict: Hit!

3. Star Trek Ascendancy

Star Trek Ascendancy

Long time followers of this blog will recall our posts about Star Trek’s impact on board gaming: see here and here. Due to the sheer scope of the subject, I had to break it into two parts. The post ends with an exciting announcement from Gale Force Nine games about an upcoming game called Star Trek Ascendancy. That upcoming game hit the table at The Gaming Annex recently.

In Star Trek Ascendancy, players control the governments of the Federation, the Klingon Empire or the Romulans. The goal is to get 5 Ascendancy. Players buy Ascendancy with 5 culture tokens. The first to get to 5 Ascendancy is declared the winner.

Components of Star Trek Ascendancy

Players build the map as they go. There are circular systems connected by space lane straightaways. The board is built in a bit of a miniature wargaming fashion with a tape measure used to ensure the board is the right size.

Players spend their command tokens to take actions like move ships or attack their opponents. Other actions include conquering planets or building nodes (resource producing elements) on planets. Players will take their three resource types to either build stuff (with production tokens), buy tech (with research tokens) or buy Ascendancy (with culture tokens).

Fleet tokens from Star Trek Ascendancy

The game play is similar to Eclipse except it’s much worse than Eclipse. The combat system is a lifting of Eclipse’s weapons +1 and shields -1 system. But Star Trek Ascendancy does not have any way of tweaking the ships like the ship blueprints in Eclipse. A Federation ship is identical to a Romulan ship. Both roll one die in combat and both require the same hit roll.

The galaxy building and discovery aspect of the game is also like Eclipse but much worse. Players have a say in where they place a system but first must roll the die to see how big the space lane is. Then they draw a card that tries and fails to evoke the theme of Star Trek.

In my one and only game of this, the game lasted 9 hours. Which is about 7.5 hours too long. And the only reason it ended was because of a few tactical mistakes that Nick Sima and I would not make if we would play this a second time–which we won’t.

In the long, proud history of Star Trek board games, this game falls woefully short. But what did you expect from Gale Force Nine? These guys published dreck like Homeland: the Board Game and Firefly: the Board game.

Verdict: Sadly, a flop.

4. Camp Grizzly

Camp Grizzly from Ameritrash Games

In recent weeks, I’ve been on a game trading kick. I’m getting rid of games we just don’t play. And I’m much better now at gauging what will be well received by the Muskegon Area Gamers. I recently traded Tiny Epic Kingdoms and Tiny Epic Galaxies (both owned by other members of our group) for Camp Grizzly.

Kevin from Camp Grizzly

Camp Grizzly lifts the theme of 80’s slasher movies and turns it into a semi-cooperative board game. Players take on the role of a camp counselor. I got Kevin, the lifeguard, who bore more than a passing resemblance to 70’s hunk Parker Stevenson. Each counselor has individual stats and special abilities.

Parker Stevenson

Players move their counselors around the game board which is an aerial view of the fictional Camp Grizzly. Along the way, players may acquire important items, find lost campers (the children under our care) or may even encounter the dreaded Otis.

Otis is the antagonist who, like Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers, wears a terrifying mask. Otis’s shtick is a bear mask, a nod to the eponymous Camp Grizzly–itself a play on words for grisly. When Otis strikes, the campers die and the counselors take damage. If you die, you are eliminated from the game, so be careful.

Players must work together to get all the items needed to unlock the Finale. Then players move to the Finale and roll dice to see if they escape. This game is a semi-coop. That means some players can win while others lose. Players may work together but if C.J. is lagging behind at docks, you and the rest of the counselors may need to radio for help without him!

The artwork in Camp Grizzly really evokes the horror theme. Which may seem strange given that it’s comic book art. But it really works for this game. You get the sense of gore without the gratuitous scene. Indeed, the artwork is what ultimately drew me to make this trade. And new artwork for the upcoming five expansions(!) is what is delaying Ameritrash Game’s release dates.

We played this with a captive audience a couple of Thursdays ago. And it was very well received. Ben said it was very cinematic and evocative of the theme. And I agree. It’s light but you need an occasional light game to end the night.

Verdict: Hit!

5. Escape the Room: Mystery at the Stargazer’s Manor

Escape the Room: Mystery at the Stargazer’s Manor

There is a new genre of game: the one-and-done adventure. We discussed an example several months ago when T.I.M.E Stories hit the shelves and hit our table. Escape the Room is another example. Escape the Room is a new series of games from Think Fun. Players work together to solve the puzzles in order to eventually “escape the room”.

We made our first foray recently. After a brief rules explanation–which is very brief because there are virtually no rules–we delved into the mystery. The mystery is wrapped up in different envelops which you are not allowed to open unless you solve the required puzzle. The envelops then are opened, revealing another puzzle, which when solved, opens another envelop.

These puzzle games can be entertaining. But Mystery at the Stargazer’s Manor was a bit too easy. Brandi, Tasha, Ben and I solved it in 30 minutes. A week later, Dusty, Jon, Kevin and Old Ben solved it in 35 minutes. This is way too easy for a $30 game.

The next game in the series, Secrets of Dr. Gravely’s Retreat, is supposed to be more challenging. That would fix my issue with the anticlimactic Stargazer Manor.

Verdict: Meh

6. 27th Passenger

27th Passenger from Purple Games

I’ve been on the hunt for a good deduction game. A good deduction game requires logic, has good player interaction and plays quickly. And 27th Passenger fits the bill.

Players are dealt one of 27 different secret roles. Each round players secretly select an action to take. These actions are used to learn about the other player’s roles, gain valuable defense cards or learn about the other NPC roles (the balance of the 27 roles not taken by players). Players will narrow down which roles their opponents are in order to kill them, thus eliminating them from the game. The last player standing is the winner.

Each role has three separate characteristics. The three characteristics are appearance, their voice and their scent. There are three of each of these types of characteristics. And each role has a unique combination of them (3X3X3 =27 passengers). Using simultaneous order selection, clever play and a little intuition, you will figure out who your opponents are first.

We’ve played 27th passenger twice now. It’s grown on me. And I think I was the only curmudgeon at the table.

Verdict: Hit

Where the Hits keeping on coming

Muskegon Area Gamers

Muskegon, MI 139Muskegon Area Gamers

This group is for anyone interested in playing board games, card games or any table top game. This group learns and teachs new games all the time. We welcome fresh players. We…

Strap yourself in. It’s time for another installment of Hits & Flops. Hits & Flops is one of this blog’s many examples of journalistic malpractice. We play a game once or a just a few times. We make a snap judgement about the game. Then I blog about it here. This month’s installment will include many newer releases such as Through the Ages, Raptor and 7 Wonders Duel.

1. Star Wars: Rebellion

Star Wars Rebellion from FFG

This one should not surprise those of you who read my last blog post where I reviewed Star Wars: Rebellion. Those who read thatpost were surprised however.

I played Star Wars: Rebellion eight times now. So it’s not really a case of hit-and-run journalism. I gave Star Wars: Rebellion an ample amount of chances. In the last game of it, I lost. In the second round. After playing almost perfectly.

It’ll be a while before I salve that wound. Until then: FLOP!

2. 7 Wonders: Duel

7 Wonders: Duel

The Muskegon Area Gamers were introduced to 7 Wonders at a gaming event in GR several years ago. Despite having diverse gaming tastes, 7 Wonders has been one of the few games almost everyone liked.

7 Wonders: Duel what’s in the box

7 Wonders is a simple card drafting game. All you do is draft cards. Card drafting is a cool mechanic that works for 3+ player games. When I heard about 7 Wonders: Duel, a new two player game, I was very skeptical.

And yet, the authors ( Antoine Bauza and Bruno Cathala) managed to capture the card drafting and the feel of 7 Wonders and somehow put it into a two player game. Cards are placed in a pyramid shape with some face down and others face up. You “draft” them by selecting from the available cards, i.e. no other cards on top of it. This simple mechanic gives you the feel of drafting that the regular game has.

And the scoring mechanics are roughly the same. You collect resources, sets of cards, etc. and score them. But the game has two other ways of winning. You can win with science or by military. So you might be racking up big points but your opponent can get an auto-win if he gets too far ahead of you in science or war.

7 Wonders: Duel: a hit!

3. Raptor

Raptor from Matagot

Bruno Cathala also designed Raptor. Raptor is a new game from Matagot Games. Players take on the role of either a mama raptor trying to protect her babies or a team of scientists trying to capture the mama.

Players play a card. Cards are numbered from 1 to 9. Each player has their own such deck. If you played the lower card, you will take the special action on the card. If you played the larger card, you can take actions such as attack or move.

The raptors win if they kill all the scientists or if three babies escape. The scientists win if they kill the mama or if they capture three babies.

The game plays in about 30 minutes. Set up is quick. And the game has surprising depth. I’ve played with my doting wife several times. She’s a big Jurassic Park fan so this game is up her alley. Plus the regulars at The Gaming Annex also are fans. It’s been a big HIT!

4. Through the Ages (new edition)

Through the Ages

Dusty has been the champion of Through the Ages. This game is right up his alley: card drafting, heavy economics and several micro decisions instead of one or two macro decisions on your turn.

He tried to get us to play the original version several times with varying degrees of success. The game didn’t click. Other games like Clash of Cultures which is a plasticky civ builder overshadowed it. Dusty picked up the new version, hoping this one would resonate with us.

And it does. At least with me. I can see the brilliance of this game design. You have several action points to spend on your turn. You can spend them drafting cards, playing cards, turning your population into a worker or assigning a worker to a task. There’s a lot of heaviness. But once you get past it, it’s a solid game. I’m not good at it. But I admit it’s a good game.

Verdict: HIT!

5. Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu from Matagot Games

Matagot Games reprinted Dynasties. It’s new name is Sun Tzu. The theme is the same. You and your opponent places soldiers onto a board and try to score different regioins of China.

Players have their own decks of cards. You place your cards, numbered from 1 to 6, onto a region. Then you resolve them. The player who played the highest value places soldiers in that region equal to the difference in the values.

Soldiers in Sun Tzu

As with most Matagot Games, the components are nice. The game comes with several plastic armies. The cardboard tiles are thick and sturdy.

But the game play left something to be desired. We felt like you were more or less randomly playing cards. It’s like playing War. Whoever played the highest card wins the trick. But here whoever plays the highest card places influence (soldiers) in that region. Regions score every three game rounds.

There must be some strategy here that I am missing. But as of this writing, this game was a swing-and-a-miss.

Verdict: FLOP!

6. Empires: Age of Discovery

Empires: Age of Discovery

I saw the upgraded version of Age of Empires III on boardgamegeek. I new I had to own it. The components were awesome. And the theme is great: the Age of Imperialism.

Empires: Age of Discovery

As I stated in a different post, the Muskegon Area Gamers had tried Glenn Drover’s Age of Empires III several years ago. I thought it was mediocre. But Jon hated it. So much.

So the game never got played again.

I decided to try the game out again. I picked up a copy with my Speedy reward points. I handed the game to John Sima’s boy. I sure as hell wasn’t going to read the rules. About a week later, the game hit the table.

I don’t remember much about the original edition. But this new edition has hit its stride with our group. It’s got a good mix of tactics and strategy. The tactics: the top area of the game board where you get stuff now. This includes placing colonists in the New World or gaining a trade good. The strategy: setting yourself up for next turn by gaining a specialist, or waging war.

The rules are very straight forward. I almost didn’t need John’s son to read them. And yet the game has a unique feel every time I play it. Plus the game scales decently . With three players, four or up to six–the game plays fine. It’s longer with more players, but it still plays good with that many.

Empires: Age of Discovery has been a big HIT!

7. Tides of Time

Tides of Time

Tides of Time is a clever two player game. It’s a card drafting game that is played over three game rounds. You score points by collecting sets of cards. Cards come in several suits. And each card has a scoring bonus listed on it.

Your goal is to collect cards that will score you more points than your opponent. After the first round of the game (after you play five cards), you can keep one of your cards, remove another from the game and then you reshuffle the rest of the cards. This happens three times.

The reset that happens between game round 1 and two and the one between game round 2 and 3 is innovative. You have some strategic considerations to make along with the tactical card drafting. And the game can be played in a mere 15 minutes.

But the game didn’t click with me. I didn’t hate it. I just didn’t think it was great fun like Raptor or 7 Wonders: Duel. The theme is totally pasted on. And the decisions didn’t feel compelling like they did in Raptor or 7 Wonders: Duel. I’ll play Tides of Time again I am sure. But my verdict for now is UNDECIDED.

8. Where the Hits & Flops get played

Muskegon Area Gamers

Muskegon, MI 128Muskegon Area Gamers

This group is for anyone interested in playing board games, card games or any table top game. This group learns and teachs new games all the time. We welcome fresh players. We…

Alright. It’s been a month since we did our last hit piece. We’ve played many new games in that time. This list only comprises the games I ‘ve played. We tried out many uber popular games like T.I.M.E. Stories, Marco Polo and the expansion to Istanbul. Let’s find out if I loved them or panned them.

1. T.I.M.E Stories

T.I.M.E. Stories from Space Cowboys

T.I.M.E Stories was published just last year. And it’s already #40 All Time on boardgamegeek. This game has all the elements that board gamers like nowadays.

T.I.M.E Stories is a

Panorama from T.I.M.E Stories

one and done game. There is no replayability. The game is a cooperative. Players take on the roles of time cops, working together to investigate strange happenings. T.I.M.E Stories is an adventure more than it is a strategy game. You experience it rather than concentrate on it.

T.I.M.E Stories is a good game system. The mechanics are solid. The expansions are reasonably priced, giving players new missions to investigate. And the game sessions last for an entire game night. This gives you value for your purchase.

Verdict: HIT!

2. Istanbul: Mocha & Baksheesh

Istanbul: Mocha & Baksheesh

Istanbul was surprisingly good. At least to me. The users on BGG, of course, loved it. It’s a medium weight Euro that plays in a small to moderate amount of time.

Designer Rudiger Dorn lifted mechanics from his other games like Jambo and Genoa and honed them for Istanbul. That’s why it’s rated 98 on BGG.

New board pieces for Istanbul: Mocha & Baksheesh

The much anticipated expansion, Mocha & Baksheesh, has been a huge success. The expansion adds new board pieces, a new resource (coffee) and a few new mechanics.

Sick Nima has been ahead of the curve on strategy in Istabul, besting our Thursday night group somewhat regularly. He read the rules to the expansion and taught it to us last week.

The expansion adds new interactions on the game board, interactions that we could not possibly scratch the surface of in one play through. And some of the new mechanics like power tiles from the Tavern were largely ignored by the group until late game. The expansion will undoubtedly add tons of replayability to avid fans of the base game.

And despite this, I cannot call it a hit. Not yet. It felt a bit of a distraction from Istanbul. Not bad. Just not good. Oh, I’ll play it a few more times to come to a more reasoned conclusion. But in a blog post about “hits & flops” and I cannot call it a hit.

Verdict: undetermined.

3. The Voyages of Marco Polo

Voyages of Marco Polo from Z-Man

Marco Polo, published by Z-Man Games in 2015, shot up the ranks on BGG. It is currently sitting at a strong #39 on the all time list with a staggering 8.03 user rating.

Marco Polo is like Kingsburg or Alien Frontiers but supercharged with bells and whistles. Players chuck dice and then place the dice onto areas of the board, collecting resources, more dice, cards or victory points. There are a myriad of ways to mitigate the values you

Board from Marco Polo

roll.

Did I say this game was like Kingsburg? Nah, it’s more like Troyes. It’s a brain-burning version of Kingsburg. Tons of strategy but no soul.

Sick Nima often mocks me for calling a game a soulless Euro. But that is how I feel about Marco Polo. It’s the type of game that Rocky or Dr. Steve love but it’s the type of game that makes me long for Clash of Cultures of Battlelore.

Verdict: Flop 🙁

4. Junta (the 2nd printing)

Junta from AEG

For me, Junta fires Republic of Rome. I am not a fan of Republic of Rome. Lots of downtown, tedious voting over petty scraps and virtual player elimination (but not actual player elimination) punctuate your standard six hour game of Republic of Rome.

Junta’s game board

Junta offers the same feeling of working together but also betraying your buddies. It has some voting but not over the petty stuff of Republic of Rome. Junta is also less complex. While Republic of Rome is far more complicated than Junta, it’s not deeper. Junta offers the same depth.

Jon picked up the 2nd printing of Junta. AEG changed a few things. We decided to give the game a play through even though I rage quit during our previous play of the 1st printing–witnessed by a bemused Sick Nima who still comments about it.

Junta is a good adventure + political game. It scratches the itch of Republic of Rome and possibly Diplomacy. And if you disliked Republic of Rome or Diplomacy, you may want to try Junta out anyway. It’s a tactical combat sub-game that these other games lack.

Verdict: HIT!

5. Space Empires 4X: Close Encounters

Space Empires 4X Close Encounters

Space Empires 4X is a wargame in space where you manage your ships and colonies with an IRS ledger. You carryover dollars from each year and add them to your next year’s income, pay for upkeep on your empire then purchase new equipment. This process repeats until someone’s homeworld (probably Dusty’s) gets conquered.

Our first game of Space Empires 4X was inauspicious. Jon’s passion for the game and his superb teaching skills could not raise the game out of the mire of mediocrity. When he bought the expansion, I felt I had to give the game another shot.

Close Encounters adds tremendous material to the game. Most of it good. Players have faction powers. There are now reasons to attack the NPC aliens. There are several new ship classes, changing the meta of the game. We gave the game plus expansion a play through last month.

After 10 hours, Kevin and Sick Nima managed to defeat Jon and me. The game ending was thrilling. Had they not won, we would have won on the following on our next turn.

The expansion is quite good if you like the base game. In fact, the expansion is a no-brainer. If you like the base game. I just cannot see myself playing 10 hours of this game very often. The arithmetic is excruciating after that length of time.

It pains me to give this a flop so I’m adding an asterisk.

Verdict: Flop*

6. Tiny Epic Games

Tiny Epic Galaxies

I had the joy of playing Scott Almes’ Tiny Epic Galaxies recently. This slightly larger than pocket sized game packs a lot of fun in a small package.

Planet card from TEG

A player rolls some dice on their turn, taking actions with the icons that are rolled. Other players may follow the same action by spending Culture. Players move ships around the galaxy, colonizing planets with unique powers.

The interaction of the planets makes the game have lots of replayability. And there must be 100 unique planets in the game.

My one complaint about the game is that it takes a bit too long with five players. The game would be about right for two or three players. Too much analysis paralysis and downtime with four or five players.

Verdict: HIT!

7. Star Realms

Star Realms

I had heard that Star Realms was very similar as Ascension. Maybe so similar that it could be described as a reimplementation of Ascension. I’ve played Ascension a few times. I didn’t care for it. I played Star Realms a couple of weeks ago.

And I loved it. It’s soooo much better than Ascension. The theme is better: sci fi spacefaring versus fantasy combat tripe. The artwork is better. Star Realms sports professional artwork that is beautiful. Ascension’s artwork is amateurish–and why did they choose such a muddy palate?

Star Realms is a deck building game where your goal is to inflict damage on your opponent to bring his influence to zero. You purchase ships with unique powers and bases and outposts to defend yourself. The mechanics are simple. But the game is quick and fun. A definite hit.

Verdict: HIT!

8. Lanterns: the Harvest Festival

Lanterns: the Harvest Festival

Jeremy brought over Lanterns: the Harvest Festival to the Brew House last month. I had followed it obliquely on BGG. I like trying new games so I sat down and played with him.

Lanterns is a tile laying game.

Yep.

That’s the long and short of it. Do you like Carcassonne? Then Lanterns is up your alley. Me? I was a bit bored.

Poor Jeremy. It seems every time he brings over a new game, I pan it. I believe in you, Jeremy! You can buy and teach me games I will love.

It’s time for another installment of Hits & Flops. For those of you new to this blog, every month or so I do a hit piece on the games the Muskegon Area Gamers have played. Games are played once, considered briefly and then judged (sometimes harshly). We’ve had several new games played in the past five weeks or so. Here’s a look at what was on the docket.

1. Battlelore 2nd Edition

Battlelore 2nd Edition

Battlelore 2nd Edition is a great game. It fires on all cylinders, even a few cylinders I didn’t know it had. Now I’m kicking myself for waiting so long to pick it up.

I wrote a brief review of Battlelore recently. But since that time, many others have played it with me. And the responses have all been positive. Darrin was impressed with it. Kevin thinks it’s a great game. Nick Sima offered an opinion, probably positive. This game has been a hit.

Battlelore 2nd edition: HIT!

2. Dune

Dune from Avalon Hill

Dune was a welcome surprise. The bad taste of Rex: Last Days of an Empire had finally subsided. John S. loaned The Gaming Annex a copy. We’ve played it a few times now. And each time it gets better and better.

This game is a classic for a reason. I wrote a recent review about this game too. But for the purpose of this blog post, I’ll simply say:

Dune: HIT!

3. Fury of Dracula 3rd Edition

Mina Harker from Fury of Dracula

Fury of Dracula was revamped by Fantasy Flight. The third edition streamlines many of the flaws of the second edition.

One is the dice used in combat: they’ve been eliminated. Combat is 100% card driven. This is a move in the right direction.

Another is the way Dracula scores points. The new system is more interesting than the previous. The Dark Prince must still poop out vampires. And he must survive long enough to score points. But the point system isn’t a bore two points for everything like it was in the 2nd edition.

And despite this, I cannot fully endorse Fury of Dracula. It’s a good enough game…but Letters from Whitechapel is better is almost every way. Of course, our group still hasn’t delved into the strategy of Fury of Dracula yet (Dracula has won all the games thus far). So it’s possible a good game is still there waiting for us to bring it forth.

But until then: Fury of Dracula: Flop

4. A Study in Emerald

A Study in Emerald 2nd Edition

Kevin was happy to get a copy of A Study in Emerald. He’s a fan of the literature and he’s a fan of Martin Wallace. But he wasn’t a fan of paying $200 for the first printing.

When the second printing came out with a <$60 price tag, picking up a copy was a no brainer

Martin Wallace’s A Study in Emerald

He taught Tasha, Nick Sima and myself how to play. I’ve never read the book so I cannot say if the theme is fully represented.

But I do have to give credit to Wallace. He makes mechanistically profound games. A Study in Emerald is like a multi-player version of A Few Acres of Snow. With a blurb like that, you know I’ll be calling this one a hit.

A Study in Emerald: HIT!

5. Star Wars: Imperial Assault

Star Wars Imperial Assault

Well I finally managed to log my first play of Star Wars Imperial Assault. This reskin of Descent 2.0 is everything it’s cracked up to be. I’m really looking forward to playing a campaign of this.

Star Wars Imperial Assault fixes a few things with Descent 2.0. And Descent didn’t need that much fixed to begin with. This game even made a Jon do a 180. He disliked Descent but admired SW:IA.

Now, if we can get Mongo to show up half the time, I might be able to play this HIT! a little bit more often.

6. Dungeon Boss

Dungeon Boss

I’ve owned Boss Monster for some time but hadn’t played it. About a week, I coaxed Nick Sima into teaching me how to play. He warned me that it wasn’t a deep game. But that alone does not bother me–I need a large library of games to meet numerous situations.

Boss Monster uses a similar mechanic as in Restaurant Row and Dungeon Lords. In all of these games, you compete for “customers” with your opponents. Then you score points for those customers who come to your “venue”.

Boss Monster is like the super-light version of Dungeon Lords both in theme and in mechanics. While Dungeon Lords is a very highly rated game, I rather despise it. Too much upkeep, not enough payoff.

But Dungeon Boss does not have the upkeep hang ups that Dungeon Lords does. But Dungeon Boss is so light, that there isn’t too much decision making taking place. It’s not a bad game. It’s just not a good game. I’ll keep it around for now to see if it grows on me.

Dungeon Boss: Undetermined.

7. Tiny Epic Kingdoms

Tiny Epic Kingdoms

New Jeremy has been a fairly new member of our group. New Jeremy, you may recall, replaced Jeremy Scott Pyne when Mr. Pyne moved away.

New Jeremy is an avid follower of Kickstarter, something I still haven’t committed to. Jeremy taught four of us how to play Tiny Epic Kingdoms, one of the more successful franchises from Kickstarter.

Tiny Epic Kingdoms works mechanically. You have to make tough decisions each turn. The decisions you make and the planning you do will affect your outcome. But that’s about it. There was not flair. No spark. It’s just a game that works but not a game that’s fun. I’m hoping Tiny Epic Galaxies works better.

Tiny Epic Kingdoms: Flop.

8. Junta

Junta from AEG

Several years ago, I brokered a deal between Jon and someone on boardgamegeek. It involved Jon coughing up his copy of StarCraft. In exchange, Jon got Perikles (out of print) El Grande and Junta (then out of print).

One by one, Jon played and dismissed all of those games.

He’s finally forgiven me for helping arrange that deal. The bad taste left from our first play of Junta subsided and we gave the game another go. And it’s not half bad. In fact, with the reprint from AEG, the game actually scratches the same itch as Republic of Rome. But better.

Junta is a game of tactics, negotiation and timing. It doesn’t have the failings of Republic of Rome (which makes RoR all but unplayable to me). Junta has failings but I am really enjoying it so far.

I checked out the entry on BGG. AEG has announced an expansion for Junta. This seals the deal. Junta is a HIT!

9. Where the Hits & Flops get played

It’s been a while since I did a Hits & Flops post. I’m sure everyone is wondering what new games we’ve played, what new games we’ve accepted and which games we have relegated to the trade heap. I’ve managed to get quite a few games in since the last H&F post including Terra Mystica and some of the Eclipse add-ons. Let’s take a look at how dismissive I can be.

1. Terra Mystica

Terra Mystica

Terra Mystica is a heavy duty Euro. It’s heavy duty in the sense that its heaviness is rated “3.9” on boardgamegeek.com. Heaviness is a function of how many rules a game has, how long it takes to play and how much brain burn it causes. 5 is the highest rating whereas 1 is the lowest. A heaviness of 3.9 is pretty darn heavy.

And I agree with the rating on BGG. I would say it’s a solid 4. Lots of moving parts. Lots of decisions. Tons of different races that play a little different than each other.

Terra Mystica is also a Euro. Streamlined rules. Little to no player interaction. Pasted on theme.

And this is why I rate it a flop. The bulk of the Muskegon Area Gamers would dismiss this game. The time investment and brain burn are not worth a game that is more or less a heavy version of Mancala. Lots of tedious moving of marbles from one pit to the next to gain a slight advantage over your opponents. This is the heart of any Euro. And it is why I usually stick to Ameritrash and wargames.

Rating: Flop

2. Risk: Star Wars

Risk: Star Wars Episode VI

I’ve been able to play Risk: Star Wars three times now. All three times, the Rebels won. According to BGG, this is typical. It takes the Empire about 5 plays or so to get a handle on the game.

Despite this, Risk: Star Wars is quite good. It’s like Star Wars Queens Gambit light. It plays in 30 to 40 minutes which is ideal for its lightness. It offers a few different ways to approach the game so there is replayability. And the asymmetry between the Empire and the Rebels is interesting. This is by far the best game to come from Hasbro’s Star Wars Friday extravaganza a few months ago.

Rating: Hit

3. Nations: The Dice Game

Nations: The Dice Game

Nations: the Dice Game is the latest attempt to dissolve a heavier board game into a simpler dice version. Normally this is a problem. Gamers like heavier experiences (as seen by my explanation under Terra Mystica).

However, I liked the dice game of Nations much more than the board game. The board game is like a worse version of Through the Ages. It’s long, tedious and boring. Nations: the Dice game is a 20 to 30 minute version of the board game. It captures the fun of the board game without the down time or the tedium.

If you are looking for a filler, check out Nations: the Dice game.

Rating: Hit

4. Eclipse Add-ons

Eclipse Nebula

Playing Eclipse with the Rise of the Ancients expansion is a no-brainer. It turns a good game into a great game. But what about the add-ons?

There are tons of promos for Eclipse like the Supernova, Nebula, etc. Also there are faction specific ships which includes plastic starbases.

We played a 6 player game of Eclipse last Tuesday. We used the Supernova, Pulsar and the Nebula. We decided against using the ships for this game.

The Supernova was a bit of a bummer. It adds rules and randomness. But nothing much more. You roll some dice each round to see if it explodes. But it’s not worth any points so on the last turn it doesn’t matter.

The Pulsar adds a little something. It allows you a free gimped action. You can build, move or upgrade once each round. This is a cool ability but it’s not an amazing addition to the game or anything.

The Nebula is partitioned into three sections. This means moving through a nebula will take lots of time. This, like the Pulsar and the Supernova, don’t really add a lot to the game. Maybe a little replayability but that’s about it.

Rating: Indifferent

5. Panic on Wall Street

Panic on Wall Street

We were told by Rocky that Panic on Wall Street was a terrible game. He played it once and had a terrible experience. Before relegating it to the trade heap, I wanted to try it at least once. But I couldn’t be bothered to read the rules so I made Nick Sima* read them.

We had eight over a couple of Saturdays ago. We broke out Panic on Wall Street. After a rules explanation, we began. Kevin, Nick Sima*, Tasha and myself were the landlords. We rented properties to my brother Nick, Mike, Joann and Eric.

And we had a rousing time!

When the dust cleared, Kevin and Mike had won. But all of us were delighted by this game. What’s more, we couldn’t understand Rocky’s hatred for it. The game is in his wheelhouse. :/

*not his real name

Rating: Hit

6. Space Alert

Space Alert

Eric brought over Space Alert a couple of weeks ago. This is a Vlaada Chvatil game. Like Mage Knight and Through the Ages, you can expect Space Alert to be heavy on the brain burn. It’s a challenging co-op with tons of decisions to make.

Space Alert has programmed movement in it kinda like Robo Rally. You have a few seconds to make your programmed movements kinda like XCOM. Then you have to destroy the incoming aliens kinda like XCOM.

I enjoyed Space Alert the one time I played it. But I think XCOM has officially fired it. I will play Space Alert again if someone brings it over. But I would at least recommend XCOM first. XCOM simply does Space Alert better.

Rating: Fired

7. Swords and Bagpipes

Swords and Bagpipes

Nick Sima* kickstarted Swords and Bagpipes. He’s been talking about it incessantly for months. It was supposed to be delivered to him a few weeks ago. Slow mail service from Europe delayed its delivery.

He managed to get it on the table today. We played a four player game of it. Players attempt to solve a “prisoner’s dilemma” situation. Help Scotland and get a little bit of money. Help England and get lots of money. But if you help England, you get a treachery card. If England wins four times, the player with the least treachery wins. If England does not defeat Scotland four times, the player with the most money wins. Should you help Scotland or should you help England?

When I first heard Nick Sima* describe this game, I was bored. It didn’t sound fun. But I was wrong. Dead wrong. It’s quite the nifty little game. The prisoner’s dilemma is done extremely well in Swords and Bagpipes. I think this game is as good as UN Article 27 and considerably better than Sheriff of Nottingham. If you are looking for a backstabbing, out think your opponent game, then Swords and Bagpipes may be for you.